Giovanni Legrenzi was one of the leading Italian composers of the second half of the 17th century.
This rather unusual work comes from the end of his Opus 10, La Cetra, consecrata al nome immortale della sacra Cesarea real maesta di Leopoldo Primo sempre Augusto, published in Venice in 1673.
While most of the pieces in this collection are real Baroque works for one or more violins and continuo, the final piece,a quatro viole da gamba ô come piace, is written in a deliberately old-fashioned, but highly expressive style: there is perhaps an analogy with Purcell’s viol fantasias here.
In arranging this work for recorders, very little had to be changed, apart from a few notes in the bass part. We have provided two sets of parts, one at the original key of C minor, suitable for ATTB consort, and one a tone higher for a SATB consort.
(David Katz)
